Mom with Vascular Dementia

wonderfulg8

My late 70s mom has been diagnosed with VD. She is also a diabetic. Her short term memory is terrible, sitting and does not talk, sleeps a lot, personality change, cries, depressed, pain (real or real to her), unstable when gets up and falls often. Does VD progress like ALZ until total loss of memory? I find it strange that she has VD and not ALZ because 3 of her immediate family have all had ALZ.

H1235

My MIL had Alzheimer’s. Her symptoms were pretty much memory.The end for her was complications due to a fall. She never really missed her car, she thought she still had it and would tell us about just getting back from getting groceries. My mom has VD. Her personality has changed and she was unsteady on her feet very early. She has some minor issues with memory ( still can’t be trusted to take medication herself), but not repeated conversations. Her biggest problem is executive functioning and anosognosia (no awareness of her symptoms). She is mad she can’t mow the lawn, use the power washer, wants to reupholster a couch and sees no reason at all for AL. Like your mom she sleeps a lot and is depressed. It’s my understanding that VD progresses in steps vs a gradual decline, although we have not experienced any big steps yet. I’ve also read that VD can be different with each individual based on the part of the brain affected. I have found my mom’s memory is much better than what most are dealing with here. I can’t just do what needs to be done and expect she will forget about it in a day anyway. Sometimes I think her memory is better than mine. It makes things much more complicated than it was with MIL. I hope this helps, but then again everyone is different.

harshedbuzz

IME, VD has a very similar progression as Alzheimer's except that it tends to be a bit short in duration and the progression through stages is more of a series of plateaus and drops.

It's also possible for a PWD to actually have mixed dementia with Alz/V being most common. Two of mom's sisters had VD. The younger of the two developed Alzheimer's as well a few years before she died.

Anonymousjpl123

Has she had an MRI and been to neurologist? My mom has Alz and NPH, and I think having both has made her symptoms a bit different from if it was just NPH. The reason I ask is the gait and falling. That, and incontinence, are the two signature aspects of NPH along with the dementia that differentiate it. Either way, I hope she feels better and you are managing ok.

mrsabaldwin

My mom has Alz and VD. She recently jumped in stage caused by a stroke. The VD is what caused her incontinence early on along with balance issues and falling. She tends to try to flop onto chairs, the toilet, and into the car. An old habit from years of disability caused by a massive stroke when she was 36 years old. Unfortunately that means she gets herself into predicaments that she cannot physically get herself out of and causes stress and sometimes pain for me as her caregiver. Not to mention she’s tried using me as a springboard or something she can fall on or push off of. Anyway VD can cause issues with spatial perception and that means more falls. Sometimes she shuffles or has sticky foot syndrome (what I call it, not a medical term) when she can’t move her foot as if it’s glued to the floor. Balance is off most of the time but she will still try to do things as if she’s fine and that causes a fall. A book titled The 36 Hour Day helped me understand and I just ordered a book titled Forget Me Not. Hoping there’s some useful sundowning tips in it.